love my jean

following my gf's lead, i have taken to spending money i don't have on expensive clothes.


diesel. top is american apparel. yes, i know i look LA, a walking cliche.

smells like fig spirit

diptyque philosykos


i love the idea of fig scents, figs being slightly fruity and slightly veggie. so when my my well-dressed school buddy tipped me off to diptyque philosykos i had to grab a sample for myself.

now that i've tried it for a few days i'll share some comments:

top note - i smell a lot of wet greenery - imagine a rainy morning walk at the golden gate park botanical garden. fresh leaves and twigs mixed with all kinds of flowers. the perfume's initial moisture quickly gives way to a floral accord with subtle sweet fig. i also pick up a touch of lilac.

middle note - i don't know if the perfumer intended this, but i smell coconut. a lot of it. know what malibu rum smells like? yeah it smells like that. a strong flowery accord remains, along with fruit notes.

base note - i don't detect any new flavors in the dry down - a disappointment. i am accustomed to scents with a little more depth.

all in all philosykos is a fine simple perfume, but a little too sweet and feminine for my taste. the fig seems like an afterthought hidden behind floral and coconut notes. i like the green freshness, but i think my quest for the perfect fig scent is far from over.

i have also tried l'artisan premier figuier, which i think has a "truer" fig smell. however, the fragrance is reverse constructed, the fruit notes appear as the base note. that was the one feature that i didn't love - too sweet and heavy late as the perfume fades.

ann demeulemeester fall/winter 09/10

i want.

wishlist

*edit:* i no longer want that red shirt. david does not wear color.

rethinking food

i can't tell you how many people write in their profiles "omg i love food lol!!" or something to that effect. seriously. food these days has become something of an indulgence that isn't treated like an indulgence. true, we all have to eat. and why, you ask, shouldn't we eat good food? you know, something exotic that excites our taste buds, or something that reminds us of home like fresh steamed mantou that mom used to make?

the truth is, good food is often more expensive than simple food. and the second truth is, good food makes us eat more than we need. i believe that gluttony is a sin, and for some of us a potentially deadly one,[1] and food in modern times is much more than simple nourishment. in a world where famine is still a fact of life, we waste a comparatively huge amount of money, natural resources, arable land, and gas to feed ourselves.

malnutritioned children at a Nigerian orphanage. credit: wikipedia.org.

so next time stop and think before you order that $5 slice of tiramisu, or that $27 plate of gnocchi, and ask yourself if you would not be better off going home and whipping up a pot of rice, some fresh veggies with tofu skin and maybe say, shitake mushrooms. just like mom used to make. your wallet, your health, your waistline, and (perhaps aspirationally on my part,) your conscience will thank you.

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[1] Laurie Barclay, Long-term Calorie Restriction Improves Cardiovascular Risk, available at http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/473866.

and it begins

style.com

the much awaited h&m + rei kawakubo/comme des garçons collaboration will be available next thursday 11/13/08 at various h&m locations around the country. get there early - the entire collection is expected to sell out by the weekend, as was the case with previous h&m collaborations.

to be honest, i was never much of a fan of comme des garçons until i saw the spring 2009 collection. note the victorian vampire-cookie monster coat pictured above. i was inspired by designer rei kawakubo's minimal monchromatic weirdness, use of hexagonal panelling, total and complete ignorance of contemporary trends in fashion. this, my friends, is how everyone should dress.

look for me to cop a pair of dropped-crotch pants.


see the collection: http://www.hm.com/us/inspiration__fashion.nhtml#/cdg/

http://www.howisobamadoing.com/